The quick response of a Texas firm stopped a dangerous leak at a natural gas well in eastern Ohio Wednesday morning. Officials say some sort of mechanical failure allowed methane to rush out of a production well near Steubenville.

Residents in the village of Bloomingdale in Jefferson County were startled by the sound of escaping gas Tuesday afternoon. Sam Clark manages the Mingo Sportsmen’s Club nearby.

“It just sounded like a jet engine; that powerful thrusting,” Clark says.

Bethany McCorkle is a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the agency which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.

“There was no explosion, there was no fire, but it was a well that was out of control,” McCorkle says.

McCorkle says the well was brought under control Wednesday morning by a crew from a Halliburton subsidiary. That was good news for the 400 families that had been evacuated. But the accident, one of several in recent days, has some residents worried, says Clark.

“It’s a little scary,” Clark says. “We’ve got these wells going up all around us and we’re wondering, anytime we have a problem are we going to have to call Texas and wait for somebody to come? Why don’t we have somebody here locally who’s qualified to fix that problem?”

There are 1,141 wells producing gas from Utica shale in Ohio. ODNR’s McCorkle says state rules require the well’s owner, American Energy Partners, to investigate the accident and determine the cause.

“Will it happen again? Possibly. And what we’ll do now is determine the cause so we can prevent it from happening going forward,” McCorkle says.

Firefighters have contained a blaze in the area of a state park in southern Ohio.

The fire was reported Tuesday afternoon near Scioto Trail State Park, roughly 50 miles south of Columbus. There was no word on how the blaze began.

Franklin Township Fire Chief Mike Menendez says the fire burned an estimated 25 to 35 acres of state property. He says it came within about 100 feet of several homes but none was damaged, and no one was hurt.

Some homes in the area were evacuated because windy weather was spreading the fire and the smoke.

The two Democratic state lawmakers listed as adversaries to a state agencyâ€™s plan to promote drilling in state parks are speaking out.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources crafted a communications plan that drew clear lines between whom they considered allies and who they considered adversaries.

The state agency, led by appointees of Republican Gov. John Kasich, created that plan in 2012 to promote the controversial practice of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.

Included on the list of adversaries were two Democratic representatives, Bob Hagan of Youngstown and Nickie Antonio of Lakewood. Antonio believes sheâ€™s being unfairly targeted for trying to limit fracking, including a ban in Lake Erie.

Antonio: â€œI believe thatâ€™s the best policy for the health and safety of the people of Ohio. And so to call my intentions or my work anything less than that is certainly insulting.â€

The Sierra Club of Ohio unveiled the 10-page memo with the help of liberal think tank Progress Ohio. The document warns that the stateâ€™s efforts to lease land to oil and gas companies would be met with â€œzealous resistance by environmental activists.â€

ODNR says it never implemented the plan, but the department defends creating such a strategy and referred to the Sierra Club and Progress Ohio as â€œsecretly funded extremist groups.â€

While ODNR says the plan was never implemented, Hagan strongly disagrees, noting recent language to push various legislation.

This political campaign to discredit critics was in full force when this bill was passed and with the MBR. Again let me emphasizeâ€”this plan was implemented.

Hagan was asked if a similar communications plan was ever drawn up by a Democratic administration.

â€œIâ€™ve never seen it,” Hagan says.

“Iâ€™ve been here for 28 yearsâ€”Iâ€™ve never seen an organized effort like thisâ€”Iâ€™ve never seen an effort on behalf of an entire administration directedâ€”againâ€”by the governor.â€

The governorâ€™s spokesperson has said it only makes sense to coordinate and plan ahead on an important issue like natural gas development.

Hagan, Antonio and Progress Ohio have all tried to compare this controversy to the bridge closure scandal thatâ€˜s plagued New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

The two representatives are calling for legislative hearings to further investigate the issue.

On Tuesday, a Kasich spokesman told The Columbus Dispatch that the governor now opposes drilling in state parks. That announcement comes three years after Kasich signed a bill allowing drilling in state parks.

The Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed an environmental group’s case seeking documents related to alleged illegal dumping of wastewater from oil and gas drilling into a northeast Ohio storm sewer.

Justices ended the Sierra Club’s case against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday in the wake of a settlement agreement.

The court indicates the group has resolved its allegation that the state failed to produce public records it requested six months earlier.

The club’s Ohio chapter sought documents related to the department’s investigation of D&L Energy and Hardrock Excavating in Youngstown.

The department revoked the firms’ permits in February amid a federal investigation into the dumping of up to 40,000 gallons of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing into a storm sewer that drains into the Mahoning River.

A popular Central Ohio dog park is expected to re-open Friday afternoon. Alum Creek Dog Park, north of Columbus, was temporarily closed while state officials checked for evidence of canine parvovirus.

The Department of Natural Resources closed the dog park after getting an anonymous tip. A dog that spent time at the park showed symptons of canine parvovirus. Sometimes parvovirus can be fatal to dogs if they’re not vaccinated. Department spokesman Mark Bruce says the dog park was quickly disinfected.

“Any toys that were left in the park, we threw those away and we disinfected with a spray the fences, the chairs, the areas the dogs could run and jump.” Says Bruce.

State veterinarian Tony Forshey says his investigators found no evidence of parvovirus in feces found on park grounds. But, Forshey praised the Department of Natural Resources for temporarily shuttering the park.

“Certainly this is a very appropriate safeguard that ODNR did in closing that park down until we get all the epidemiological investigation done.” Says Forshey.

Canine parvovirus is highly contagious for dogs. It cannot be transferred from dogs to people.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources wants to cut in half the total number of deer a hunter can kill in a year.

As it stands now, a hunter can kill up to 18 deer in one year with the combination of muzzleloaders, shotgun, and archery seasons. ODNR wants to cut that to nine in the 2013-2014 season, while also instituting local bag limits instead of the regional limits is now uses.

The proposed rule changes would do away with both the bonus shotgun hunting weekend that usually follows the week-long hunt, and the early muzzleloader season offered at three state parks in the fall.

The changes were proposed by ODNR on Wednesday, and will be voted on in April after several townhall meetings in March.

Civil disobedience is a tactic thatâ€™s starting to be adopted in Ohio by at least some environmentalists protesting the oil and gas drilling method often called fracking.

Two weeks ago, an Athens county woman chained herself to equipment at the site of a deep-injection well where drilling waste water is disposed of. This week, a Maryland man was charged with criminal trespass for chaining himself to a gate at a disposal well in Trumbull County.

The activists contend that this waste is so dangerous, it should be disposed of differently. But Ohio natural resources officials say theyâ€™re not allowed to make that change. Click the play button above to hear more from both sides.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/07/19/fracking-protesters-up-efforts-against-disposal-wells/feed/0drilling,fracking,hydraulic fracturing,natural gas,odnr,ohio,oilCivil disobedience is a tactic thatâ€™s starting to be adopted in Ohio by some environmentalists protesting the oil and gas drilling method often called fracking.Civil disobedience is a tactic thatâ€™s starting to be adopted in Ohio by some environmentalists protesting the oil and gas drilling method often called fracking.WOSU Newsno4:12Activists Reiterate Concerns About Fracking Wastehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/07/03/activists-reiterate-concerns-about-fracking-waste/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/07/03/activists-reiterate-concerns-about-fracking-waste/#commentsTue, 03 Jul 2012 11:52:18 +0000Bill Cohenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=31337

Environmental activists in Athens County say dangerous chemicals are being injected deep into the earth in the Southwest region of the state, and theyâ€™re worried that the same thing is happening at dozens of other wells around Ohio.

Environmental activists in Athens County say dangerous chemicals are being injected deep into the earth in the Southwest region of the state, and theyâ€™re worried that the same thing is happening at dozens of other wells, where waste water from oil and gas drilling is being pumped.

But officials at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources say thereâ€™s nothing to worry about.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/07/03/activists-reiterate-concerns-about-fracking-waste/feed/0environmentalists,fracking,odnr,ohio department of natural resourncesEnvironmental activists in Athens County say dangerous chemicals are being injected deep into the earth in the Southwest region of the state, and theyâ€™re worried that the same thing is happening at dozens of other wells around Ohio.Environmental activists in Athens County say dangerous chemicals are being injected deep into the earth in the Southwest region of the state, and theyâ€™re worried that the same thing is happening at dozens of other wells around Ohio.WOSU Newsno2:54ODNR Tripling The Number Of Well Inspectorshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/05/10/odnr-tripling-the-number-of-well-inspectors/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/05/10/odnr-tripling-the-number-of-well-inspectors/#commentsThu, 10 May 2012 14:30:16 +0000Steve Brownhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=28043

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources plans to hire an additional 60 inspectors to keep pace with the increase in oil and natural gas drilling around the state.

State regulators plan to triple the number of inspectors who monitor oil and gas wells in Ohioâ€™s Utica Shale region.

But the positions are being created on the expectation of increased revenue.

Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Heidi Henzel-Evans says taking the number of inspectors from 30 to 90 will be funded by increased revenue from the state’s severance tax on oil and natural gas drillers.

Hetzel-Evans says traditional vertical well drilling has decreased in recent months, but shale drilling is still booming.

“In the year 2013-2014, where weâ€™ll see more activity in the shale formations, weâ€™ll have many more boots on the grounds to address any issues related to those larger operations.”

Hetzel-Evans says there are now about 54,000 oil and gas wells around the state. She says only 65 of those are in the Utica Shale region, but that number could reach several hundred by the end of the year.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/05/10/odnr-tripling-the-number-of-well-inspectors/feed/2drilling,fracking,natural gas,odnrThe Ohio Department of Natural Resources plans to hire an additional 60 inspectors to keep pace with the increase in oil and natural gas drilling around the state.The Ohio Department of Natural Resources plans to hire an additional 60 inspectors to keep pace with the increase in oil and natural gas drilling around the state.WOSU Newsno45